


hands up if you’re down to get down tonight

by badritual



Category: Baseball RPF
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Friendship, Gen, Summer, rivalries of a sort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 14:17:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20098573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badritual/pseuds/badritual
Summary: Rick figures he and Drew should be friends, if anything.





	hands up if you’re down to get down tonight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [surge_bsb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/surge_bsb/gifts).

> My notes say this is apparently a finished fic I wrote for a prompt from [](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/surge_bsb/profile)[**surge_bsb**](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/surge_bsb/) that never made it to AO3. 
> 
> ([This](http://nullrefer.com/?https://thesaddestboner.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/smyly_1363626656.jpg) is Drew Smyly.)
> 
> Title from "Good Time" by Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen.

Rick figures he and Drew should be friends, if anything. Some of the beat writers and columnists seem to want them to hate each other or something, and try to push them towards a rivalry. A rivalry in camp would generate even more of a buzz than the trade rumors currently bouncing from reporter to reporter like a bad game of “Telephone.” It makes total sense to Rick for the two of them to stick together.

They both give the standard lines about it being a friendly competition, but none of the media really seems to believe them. They all seem to be looking for blood, for bruises, knives in each other’s backs.

Drew’s a nice kid, though, and Rick finds he’s entirely incapable of hating him. Drew likes hunting, fishing, and golfing, just like Rick, and he has a girl back home in Arkansas that he’s faithful to. Drew’s exactly the kind of guy Rick would be friends with if the writers and fans weren’t trying to wedge them apart, push them into enemy camps.

“It’s stupid,” Drew says to him one day, while they’re just winging rubber resistance bands around in the bullpens before their game against Houston.

Rick looks up and around, not sure at first who Drew’s speaking to, arms stretched high above his head. When he realizes he’s the only other one in the bullpen, he drops his arms and nods over to him. “What is?”

“Everybody seems to think we ought to hate each other,” Drew says, stretching the rubber band in both hands like he’s shooting a bow and arrow.

“Yeah, it _is_ kind of stupid,” Rick agrees. 

Drew drops the band and kicks at dirt and grass. “It’s like... I dunno.” He bends down and picks a weighted medicine ball out of a plastic crate. “You wanna go out tonight?”

“Where?” Rick asks.

“Wherever.” Drew shrugs and tosses the medicine ball in the air. “My girl’s gonna be in town, she’s on spring break. How ’bout you?”

“Oh. I don’t have one. A girlfriend, I mean.” Rick puzzles over the third degree he’s getting from Drew.

“Wouldn’t want you to be the third wheel,” Drew says, cocking a lopsided smile at Rick.

“According to Henning, you should be pulling the knife out of my back right about now,” Rick quips.

“I could ask Meghan to bring a friend for you,” Drew suggests, trailing off.

“It’s fine, I can find a date,” Rick says, laughing. “I don’t need some kid to be my wingman.”

Drew rolls his eyes and throws the medicine ball at Rick, but it lands in the dirt with a heavy thud at his feet. “You’re, like, not even a whole year older than me. You’re not allowed to call me _kid_. We’re both kids.”

“I’ve been around long enough that anyone younger than me’s a kid,” Rick says.

“Anyways, you’re in then?” 

Rick studies Drew for a few minutes, mulling over his choices—stay in and be boring like the old married guys who bring their families along or go out and party with Drew and his girl—but it’s an easy choice, really.

“Yeah,” Rick says, “I’m in.”

-

Meghan, Drew’s girlfriend, is bubbly and blonde and exactly Rick’s type. If she weren’t dating Drew, the odds that Rick would’ve drunkenly hit on her at some point in the night are high. 

The three of them get on pretty well, like they’ve all been friends forever, even though Rick and Drew are supposed to be fighting each other in some phantom competition over the fifth starter’s spot—they both know it’s Rick’s to lose—and Rick’s only known Meghan for approximately half an hour. 

Rick gets the rundown on Meghan and Drew’s relationship—they met in college at a frat party freshman year and have been inseparable ever since—and Meghan flashes her diamond engagement ring proudly over dinner. At some point, Meghan makes Drew pull out his wallet to show Rick the wallet prints of their “baby,” Bubba, a yellow lab puppy.

Rick sighs wistfully and sips at his Summer Shandy while Drew and Meghan talk about their future together, hands linked over the white linen tablecloth. Drew looks at Meghan like he’s completely certain there’s no version of his future that doesn’t include her.

Rick watches the two of them for most of the night, their intertwined fingers and sunny smiles, and works on his beer. Yeah, he’s a little jealous of them, of their perfect golden future, but his life is still pretty great. He’s playing the game he loves, surrounded by a bunch of great guys—Drew catches Rick’s eye and they nod at each other over Meghan’s head as she flips through pictures of their puppy—and they’re gonna win the World Series this year.

Rick drains the last of his Summer Shandy and puts the empty bottle down next to Drew’s, clinks their empties together. 

“Here’s to a World Series,” Rick says, slurring his words together just a little bit. He’s not drunk, not on beer, but he feels warm and fuzzy around the edges.

Drew laughs and reaches out, taps back with his bottle. Meghan giggles and murmurs something in Drew’s ear that makes him smile, cheeks dimpling.

Yeah. Everything’s good.

**Author's Note:**

> The author of this piece intends no insult, slander, or copyright infringement, and is not profiting from this work. This story is a complete work of fiction and does not necessarily reflect on the nature of the individuals featured. This is for entertainment purposes only. **If you found this story while Googling your name or the names of your friends, hit the back button now.**


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